:- module(pwp, [ pwp_files/2, % +FileIn, +FileOut pwp_stream/3, % +StreamIn, +StreamOut, +Context pwp_xml/3 % +DomIn, -DOMOut, +Context ]). :- autoload(library(lists),[append/3]). :- autoload(library(readutil),[read_file_to_codes/3]). :- autoload(library(sgml),[load_xml_file/2]). :- autoload(library(sgml_write),[xml_write/3]). /** Prolog Well-formed Pages PWP is an approach to server-side scripting using Prolog which is based on a simple key principle: - The source form of a PWP should be WELL-FORMED XML Especially when generating XML rather than HTML, this is such an obvious thing to do. We have many kinds of XML checking tools. - We can tell whether an XML document is WELL FORMED (all the punctuation is right, all tags balance) using practically any decent parser, including SWI Prolog's 'sgml'. - If we can write a Document Type Description then we can check that a document is VALID using tools like Open SP (formerly James Clark's SP) or SWI Prolog's 'sgml'. This does not guarantee that the output will be valid, but it does catch a lot of errors very early. - If we can write an XML Schema then we can check that a document is schema-valid. (SWI Prolog's 'sgml' does not yet come with a schema validator, but who knows what the future holds?). - Since an XML document is just a data structure, we can use any checking tool that we can write in Prolog, IF the input is well-formed so that we can load a template as a Prolog data structure. Having decided that the input should be well formed, that means *|NO NEW SYNTAX|* None of the weird and horrible <% ... %> or whatever not-quite-XML stuff you see in other template systems, making checking so very hard (and therefore, making errors so distressingly common). That in turns means that PWP "markup" must be based on special elements or special attributes. The fact that an XML parser must allow undeclared attributes on any element even when validating, but must not allow undeclared elements, suggests doing this through attributes. In particular, one should be able to take an existing DTD, such as an XHTML DTD, and just use that without modification. So the design reduces to - Allow dynamic data selection, insertion, and transformation just using a small number of extra attributes. This description uses the following name space: == xmlns:pwp='http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/staffpriv/ok/pwp.pl' == The attributes are - pwp:ask = Query - pwp:use = Term - pwp:how = text | xml - pwp:tag = QName or '-' - pwp:att = '' | 'one non-alphanumeric character' Here's what they mean. Each element is expanded in the context of a set of variable bindings. After expansion, if the tag is not mapped to '-', all attributes in the pwp: namespace are removed and the children elements are recursively expanded. * pwp:ask = Query * Query is a Prolog goal. For each solution of Query, the element is further processed with the new variables of Query added to the context. * If Query is not a well formed Prolog goal, or if execution of Query throws an exception, page transformation comes to a complete halt and no page is generated. * pwp:use = Term * pwp:how = text | xml | text-file | xml-file | pwp-file Term is a Prolog term; variables in Term are bound by the context. An empty Term is regarded as a missing value for this attribute. The Prolog variable CONTEXT refers to the entire context, a list of Name = Value, where Name is a Prolog atom holding the name of the context variable and Value is an arbitrary Prolog term. - If pwp:how is text, The value of Term is used to define a sequence of characters. - A number produces the same characters that write/1 would. - An atom produces the same characters that write/1 would. - A string produces the same characters that write/1 would. - A list of character codes produces those characters. - The following terms produce the same sequence of characters that the corresponding goal would have sent to the current output stream: - write(Datum) - writeq(Datum) - write_canonical(Datum) - print(Datum) - print(Datum) - format(Format) - format(Format, Arguments) - A singleton list [X] defines the characters that X defines. - Any other term F(T1,...,Tn) defines the characters that T1 defines, followed by the characters that T2 defines, ..., followed by the characters that Tn defines. - If pwp:how is xml, The value of Term must be an XML term as defined in the SGML2PL documentation or a list of such terms. A single term is taken as if it had been [Term]. The resulting list of terms replaces the children of the current element and will not be further processed. - If pwp:how is text-file, The value of Term is used to define a sequence of characters. That sequence of characters is used as a file name. The file is read as a sequence of characters, and that sequence used as character data. - If pwp:how is xml-file, The value of Term is used to define a sequence of characters. That sequence of characters is used as a file name. The file is loaded as XML, and the sequence of XML items thus obtained used. This means that PWP provides XML inclusion without depending on the parser to support XInclude. - If pwp:how is pwp-file, Like xml-file, but PWP attributes are evaluated and processed. The current context variables are passed to the PWP processor. The default value for pwp:how is text. * pwp:tag = QName or '-' If pwp:tag is missing or the value is empty, the current element appears in the output (after further processing) with its present tag. If pwp:tag is a QName, the current element appears (...) with that as its tag. That option is most useful in DTDs, where an "authoring" DTD may use one tag and have it automatically mapped to another tag in the output, e.g., ->
  • . Finally, if pwp:tag is '-', the children of the current element (either the result of pwp:use or the transformed original children, whichever applies) appear in the output but there is no element around them. A missing or empty pwp:ask is just like pwp:ask = 'true'. * pwp:att = '' | 'one non-alphanumeric character'. Attributes in the pwp namespace are not affected by this attribute. Such attributes are always stripped out and never substituted into. If pwp:att is missing or empty, attributes of the current element are copied over to the output unchanged. If pwp:att = 'c' for some non-alphanumeric character c, each attribute is examined for occurrences of c(...)c and c[...]c which are as short as possible. There is no one character which could be used every time, so you have to explicitly choose a substitution marker which is safe for the data you do not want to be altered. None of the pwp attributes are inherited, least of all this one. Text outside c(...)c groups is copied unchanged; text inside a c(...)c group is parsed as a Prolog term and treated as if by pwp:how = text. Text inside a c[...]c group is evaluated (in the current context), and if it fails, the entire attribute will be removed from the element. Examples: 1. *|A "Hello World" like example|* == </head> <body> <p><span pwp:use="Greeting" pwp:tag='-'/></p> </body> </html> == where msg.pl contains == msg('Hello, World!'). == This example illustrates an important point. Prolog Well-Formed Pages provide *NO* way to physically incorporate Prolog *clauses* into a page template. Prolog clauses must be put in separate files which can be checked by a Prolog syntax checker, compiler, cross-referencer, &c WITHOUT the Prolog tool in question needing to know anything whatsoever about PWP. You load the files using pwp:ask on the root element. 2. *|Binding some variables and using them|* == <html xmlns:pwp="http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/staffpriv/ok/pwp.pl"> <head><title>Example 2

    The answer is .

    == 3. *|Making a table|* We are given a Prolog database staff.pl defining staff(NickName, FullName, Office, Phone, E_Mail_Address). status(NickName, full_time | part_time). We want to make a phone list of full time staff. == Phone list for Full-Time staff.

    Phone list for Full-Time staff.

    NamePhone
    == 4. *|Substituting into an attribute|* Same data base as before, but now we want to make a mailing list page. == Phone list for Full-Time staff.

    Phone list for Full-Time staff.

    NameAddress
    == 5. *|If-then-else effect|* A page that displays the value of the 'SHELL' environment variable if it has one, otherwise displays 'There is no default shell.' == $SHELL

    The default shell is .

    There is no default shell.

    == There is one other criterion for a good server-side template language: It should be possible to compile templates so as to eliminate most if not all interpretation overhead. This particular notation satisfies that criterion with the limitation that the conversion of a term to character data requires run-time traversal of terms (because the terms are not known until run time). @author Richard O'Keefe @tbd Support compilation of PWP input files */ :- meta_predicate pwp_files(:, +), pwp_stream(:, +, +), pwp_xml(:, -, +). %% pwp_files(:In:atom, +Out:atom) is det. % % loads an Xml document from the file named In, % transforms it using the PWP attributes, and % writes the transformed version to the new file named Out. pwp_files(M:In, Out) :- load_xml_file(In, Contents), pwp_xml(M:Contents, Transformed, []), !, setup_call_cleanup(open(Out, write, Output), xml_write(Output, Transformed, []), close(Output)). %! pwp_stream(:Input:input_stream, +Output:output_stream, %! +Context:list) is det. % % Loads an Xml document from the given Input stream, transforms it % using the PWP attributes, and writes the transformed version to % the given Output stream. Context provides initial contextual % variables and is a list of Name=Value. pwp_stream(M:Input, Output, Context) :- load_xml_file(stream(Input), Contents), pwp_xml(M:Contents, Transformed, Context), !, xml_write(Output, Transformed, []). /* Recall that an XML term is one of Character Data sdata(...) SDATA (SGML only) ndata(...) NDATA pi(...) Processing instruction element(Name, [Att...], [Child...]) where Att is Attribute=Value and Child is an XML term. We are only concerned with elements; all other XML terms are left alone. I have given some thought to recognising processing instructions, executing the Command, and removing the processing instructions, as a debugging tool. But this is a proof-of-concept implementation; debugging features can wait for The Real Thing. */ %% pwp_xml(:In:list(xml), -Out:list(xml), +Context) % % maps down a list of XML items, acting specially on elements and % copying everything else unchanged, including white space. % The Context is a list of 'VariableName'=CurrentValue bindings. pwp_xml(M:In, Out, Context) :- pwp_list(In, Out, M, Context). pwp_list([], [], _, _). pwp_list([element(Tag0,Atts0,Kids0)|Xs], Ys0, M, Context) :- !, pwp_attributes(Atts0, Ask, Use, How, Att, Tag1, Atts1), ( nonvar(Tag1), Tag1 \== '' -> Tag2 = Tag1 ; Tag2 = Tag0 ), ( nonvar(Ask), Ask \== '', Ask \== 'true' -> atom_to_term(Ask, Query, Bindings), pwp_unite(Bindings, Context, Context1), findall(Xml, ( M:Query, pwp_element(Tag2, Atts1, Kids0, Use, How, Att, M, Context1, Xml)), NewContent) ; /* Ask is missing, empty, or true */ pwp_element(Tag2, Atts1, Kids0, Use, How, Att, M, Context, NewContent) ), pwp_attach(NewContent, Ys0, Ys1), pwp_list(Xs, Ys1, M, Context). pwp_list([X|Xs], [X|Ys], M, Context) :- pwp_list(Xs, Ys, M, Context). %! pwp_attributes(+Atts0:list(=(atom,atom)), %! -Ask:atom, -Use:atom, -How:atom, -Att:atom, %! -Tag:atom, -Atts1:list(=(atom,atom))) % % Walks down a list of AttributeName=ItsValue pairs, stripping out % those whose AttributeName begins with the 'pwp:' prefix, and % copying the rest to Atts1. Along the way, Ask/Use/How/Att/Tag % are bound to the values of the % pwp:ask/pwp:use/pwp:how/pwp:att/pwp:tag attributes, if any. At % the end, any of these variables that are still unbound REMAIN % unbound; they are not bound to default values. pwp_attributes([], _, _, _, _, _, []). pwp_attributes([AV|AVs], Ask, Use, How, Att, Tag, New_Atts1) :- AV = (Name=Value), ( pwp_attr(Name, PWPName) -> ( pwp_attr(PWPName, Value, Ask, Use, How, Att, Tag) -> New_Atts1 = New_Atts2 ; New_Atts1 = New_Atts2 ) ; New_Atts1 = [AV|New_Atts2] ), pwp_attributes(AVs, Ask, Use, How, Att, Tag, New_Atts2). pwp_attr(ask, Value, Value, _Use, _How, _Att, _Tag). pwp_attr(use, Value, _Ask, Value, _How, _Att, _Tag). pwp_attr(how, Value, _Ask, _Use, Value, _Att, _Tag). pwp_attr(att, Value, _Ask, _Use, _How, Value, _Tag). pwp_attr(tag, Value, _Ask, _Use, _How, _Att, Value). %! pwp_attr(+XMLAttr, -PWPLocal) is semidet. % % True if PWPLocal is the local name of a pwp:Local expression in % XML. This predicate deals with the three different XML % representations: the form is returned of XML namespace % processing is not enabled. The second if it is enabled and the % namespace is properly defined and the last if the namespace is % not defined. pwp_attr(Atom, PWP) :- atom(Atom), atom_concat('pwp:', PWP, Atom), !. pwp_attr('http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/staffpriv/ok/pwp.pl':PWP, PWP) :- !. pwp_attr('pwp':PWP, PWP) :- !. pwp_attr('xmlns:pwp', -). %% pwp_unite(+Bindings, +Context0, -Context:list(=(atom,any))) % % merges the new Bindings with the bindings in the outer Context0, % constructing a new list of VariableName=CurrentValue bindings in % Context1. This is only used when the CurrentValue parts of the % new Bindings are known to be distinct new variables, so the % Bindings cannot possibly conflict with any existing binding in % Context0. This is O(|Bindings|.|Context0|), which is not that % efficient, but since we do not expect there to be very many % variables it doesn't matter much. pwp_unite(Bindings, Context0, Context) :- pwp_unite(Bindings, Context0, Context0, Context). pwp_unite([], _, Context, Context). pwp_unite([Binding|Bindings], Context0, Context1, Context) :- memberchk(Binding, Context0), !, pwp_unite(Bindings, Context0, Context1, Context). pwp_unite(['CONTEXT'=Context0|Bindings], Context0, Context1, Context) :- !, pwp_unite(Bindings, Context0, Context1, Context). pwp_unite([Binding|Bindings], Context0, Context1, Context) :- pwp_unite(Bindings, Context0, [Binding|Context1], Context). %% pwp_unite(+Bindings, +Context0: list(=(atom,any))) % % looks up the bindings in Bindings in the outer Context0. % This is only used for 'pwp:use' terms (and the related terms % in $(...)$ attribute value substitutions), so that we have % no interest in forming a new context. (If we did, we'd use % pwp_unite/3 instead.) This is only used when the CurrentValue % parts of the new Bindings are known to be distinct new variables, % so the Bindings cannot possibly conflict with any existing % binding in Context0. However, there _could_ be new variables % in Bindings, and that would cause problems. An XML term may % not contain variables, and a term we want to convert to a list % of character codes had better not contain variables either. % One approach would be to just bind such variables to something, % another is to throw some kind of exception. For the moment we % call functor/3 so as to get an instantiation error. pwp_unite([], _). pwp_unite([Binding|Bindings], Context) :- memberchk(Binding, Context), !, pwp_unite(Bindings, Context). pwp_unite([_=Value|_], _) :- functor(Value, _, _). %% pwp_attach(+Tree, ?Ys0: list(xml), ?Ys: list(xml)) % % is a combination of "flatten" and "append". % It unifies Ys0\Ys with the result of flattening Tree. pwp_attach([], Ys, Ys) :- !. pwp_attach([X|Xs], Ys0, Ys) :- !, pwp_attach(X, Ys0, Ys1), pwp_attach(Xs, Ys1, Ys). pwp_attach(X, [X|Ys], Ys). pwp_element('-', _, Kids, Use, How, _, M, Context, Xml) :- !, pwp_use(Use, How, Kids, M, Context, Xml). pwp_element(Tag, Atts, [Value], Use, How, Magic, M, Context, element(Tag,Atts1,Kids1)) :- verbatim_element(Tag), nonvar(Magic), atomic(Value), !, %% Apply substition of c(..)c variables also to content of %%